Compensation Board recommends raises of $6,000 to $13,000

Board chair wants to bring county officials up to average

January 17, 2013

The Marshall County Compensation Board recommended annual salary raises ranging from $6,000 to $13,000 for county elected officials at its meeting Wednesday night.

The board recommended a $13,000 annual raise for County Attorney Jennifer Miller, who currently earns $85,326. The board recommended an $8,000 raise for Treasurer Jarret Heil on top of his current salary of $52,721. Both Marshall County Sheriff Ted Kamatchus and Auditor/Recorder Dawn Williams were recommended to receive a $6,000 annual raise. Kamatchus currently earns $74,917 and Williams has a current salary of $54,777.

Compensation Board Chair Tom McCoy said they came to the raise figures by comparing the salaries of elected officials in similar sized counties in the state and how Marshall County is ranked in pay.

Marshall County is ranked 15th in the state in population but some of these officials are paid in the 20s and 30s ranking in the state.

"They are approximately what would get our elected officials to about the 15th ranking based on last year's numbers," McCoy said of the raise recommendations.

These raises will now move to the Board of Supervisors who can accept, reject, or modify the numbers as they see fit at a future meeting for final approval. The three supervisors requested no raise recommendation from the Compensation Board again this year as they earn $33,927 annually.

If recent memory is any indication, the current raise recommendations might be lowered by the supervisors.

Last year, the Compensation Board recommended a 5 percent raise for these same county officials and it was lowered to 1.5 percent by the supervisors.

McCoy seemed a bit upset Wednesday night that only once have the supervisors accepted the board's raise recommendations in the past 11 years. He feels Marshall County officials should be paid what other similar counties are paid and said this is just $33,000 in raises in a $25 million county budget.

Even in these tougher economic times, McCoy feels these county officials should get these raises and doesn't expect backlash.

"I don't expect a lot of backlash because all we are doing is getting these people to fair," McCoy said.

The Compensation Board is made up of six volunteers appointed by the elected officials. It includes McCoy, Doug Beals, Mark Braga, Tyson Finders, Gary McKibbin and Bill Patten.